Dark Cravings [Claiming Series, #2]

- 8 -

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Adult Content Warning: some parts in this chapter contain content of an adult nature and are for mature audiences only ages 18+. Proper caution should be excerised. Reader discretion is advised.

Much to her amazement, Beth slept the entire day away. Apparently stress and fatigue had caught up with her, but when she awoke she was curled tightly around Soren, who felt cooler now than when she had fallen asleep. Wrapped in her favorite blue sweat suit, she felt warm enough, and found it easy to wind herself around him, although she wondered if he could feel the heat of her body in his...

            In his what? Was he really dead? She couldn't tell if he was breathing, and when she laid her head on his chest, she heard no heartbeat. Yet he said he could be wakened if necessary, so he couldn't really be dead.

            The ravages Kane had wrought on his chest were gone as if they had never been, the shredded, slightly bloody shirt the only evidence.

            She studied him in awe, and something warm curled up like a kitten in her heart. He had trusted her completely. Trusted her not to harm him when he was as helpless as he could be. Trusted her not to fling the door open and let the light in. Trusted her not to take advantage of his helplessness.

            That was trust indeed.

            Sighing, she laid her head on his shoulder again and waited for some sign of life. It wouldn't be long now, she was certain.

            She wanted to share the moment with him, to truly see what it was like. He called it resurrecting. Was that really what it was?

            Ordinarily she would have been annoyed with herself for missing an entire day's writing, but not today. She had needed the sleep. Even more she had seemed to need these moments of intimacy, to realize what he had offered her.

            To face the fact that he had given her utter trust and that she seemed to be unable to give him the same. Her cheeks heated when she remembered his response to her offer to give him her blood. Now that she was calmer, she could easily understand why he had been so offended.

            He was not her mother. Not by the least word or sign had he indicated that she was an unwanted burden. Maybe she could learn from him.

            Maybe she could learn for the first time that friendship need not be a debt that must somehow be repaid. That it was possible to act out of sheer kindness without expecting something back.

            She wrote such characters in her novels all the time. But they were, to her way of thinking, a mythical ideal, as mythical as the creatures she created out of whole cloth. Heroes of fantasy, never of reality.

            Just then an ugly thought wound its way into her head and made her nearly gasp with pain. So he said she owed him nothing? But what if that was because he was being paid to watch her? Before she could even begin to deal with how that idea made her feel, he awoke.

            She felt Soren jerk and heard him draw a sharp breath. She lifted her head at once and found his face locked into a grimace, his eyes wide open. Then he drew another breath, and his expression relaxed.

            Slowly his black-as-night eyes tracked to her. "Have you been here all day?"

            "Mostly. I slept. Does it hurt when you wake up?"